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February 16 was Canada’s Agriculture Day and the students at Naahii Ridge Public School in Ridgetown, Ontario, had the chance to celebrate the day with many volunteers from the agricultural community.

“Canada’s Ag Day was a great opportunity for us to talk to the students about why the Canadian Ag industry is so important,” says Amy Caron, Communications Specialist for Dow Seeds. “Dow Seeds was very fortunate to work with some great community volunteers to bring that message to the students at Naahii.”

Travis Roodzant from Thompsons Limited – Blacks Lane branch.

Students from grades 4, 5 and 6 listened to presentations on the importance of the Ag industry and the various career opportunities this sector offers. The students then participated in the “Canada’s Ag Day Trade Show” where they travelled around the gym to various stations to talk to the volunteers about what they do in the Ag industry.

Students had the opportunity to talk to: Cara McCready, a Greenhouse IPM Specialist with OMAFRA who talked about beneficial pests and pest management; Jane Lawton from Chatham-Kent 4H about the organization and how to become involved; Janice Anderson from Pioneer about the importance of Women in Ag; Rob Reid, Dairy Education Center Manager, University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus, who spoke on what happens in a dairy barn; Grace Jones, a Dow Seeds Territory Sales Rep, spoke on the importance of business and crop planning with farmers; Travis Roodzant from Thompsons Limited talked to the kids about agronomy and the use of drones in that process; Madison Trozzi, a high school senior who completed her co-op in the Dow Seeds Seed Lab showed the science behind ag industry and Eric Bastiaansen, an egg farmer from Thedford talked about how your eggs get from his farm to your grocery store.

Students from Grades 1 to 3 didn’t miss out on the festivities. Cassi Boersma, a part time teacher with Naahii and the Farm Safety Coordinator for Ridgetown, spoke to this group of students about the importance of ATV and farm safety.

Other organizations who helped support this event were FCC, Ag in the Classroom and Agriculture More Than Ever.

“We only had a couple of hours to share our stories with these students,” says Caron. “However, there were some great questions and hopefully some great conversations around their dinner table that night.”

Volunteers are still needed Over the next three years the municipality of Chatham-Kent will construct a new town, located near the village of Pain Court, due west of Chatham. For a five day period in September 2018, this little city could double Chatham-Kent’s existing 100,000+ population. Its buildings will be constructed of canvassed vinyl, and sod […]

Thompsons Limited announces an agreement with IGPC to partner for sourcing corn for 50MM gal/yr. ethanol facility for IGPC in Aylmer, Ontario effective October 1, 2015.

“Thompsons is excited to expand our originations footprint in Ontario by partnering with IGPC. We are looking forward to revolutionizing customer service with both current customers of IGPC as well as new customers. IGPC is an important piece of Ontario’s agricultural community, and we are proud to be working with them,” said Dawn Betancourt, President of Thompsons Limited.

IGPC Ethanol Inc., commenced operations in the fall of 2007. Since that time, it has used the services of Cargill Inc., to source local corn. “This change in no way reflects upon the performance of Cargill. They have been excellent partners. We are making the switch to Thompsons’ as we feel they will be able to support the strategic initiatives we will be undertaking in the future” said Jim Grey, CEO, IGPC Ethanol Inc.

Cargill will continue to serve IGPC for corn purchases and deliveries up to September 30th, 2015. Thompsons will begin purchasing corn today for October 1st, 2015 deliveries and beyond.

About Thompsons Limited

Established in 1924, Thompsons Limited is a regional leader in the agribusiness industry with 12 grain elevators, retail farm centers, seed, bean and wheat processing plants throughout Ontario. Thompsons is active in the importing and exporting of grain, organic and specialty crops worldwide and currently conducts business in over 34 countries around the world. For more information visit www.ThompsonsLimited.com.

About IGPC Ethanol Inc.

Established in 2007, IGPC Ethanol Inc. contributes significantly to the Renewable Fuels Industry and Ontario’s Agricultural sector. By producing 170 million litres of denatured fuel grade ethanol and 170,000 tonnes of distillers’ grains, IGPC Ethanol Inc., has become a leader in Southwestern Ontario’s business community by creating environmentally sustainable economic growth. IGPC Ethanol Inc. is a division of Integrated Grain Processors Co-operative established in 2002, by a group of agribusiness individuals. IGPC is a full service provider to local farmers offering a distribution solution for their corn crops while producing high protein feed supplement for their livestock. For more information, please visit www.igpc.ca